Jinsei
by Rikaku
Summary: He was having the worst luck ever. For him, when things were bad, they got worse. When they were worse, they got infinitesimally worse. Nothing went right in his wrong existence. Warning: Possibly depressing


**Jinsei**

by Rikaku

General Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I own this plot.

Genre: Angst/Spiritual (?)

Written: January 14, 2006, January 15, 2006, January 19, 2006, January 28, 2006, February 24, 2006, February 25, 2006, February 26, 2006, May 21, 2006, May 28, 2006, and June 3, 2006

Attempted Re-vamp: August 4, 2007

Posted: August 4, 2007

Author's Note: This is a three-shot (maybe four if I need an epilogue). I didn't look at it for a couple of months, so if something conflicts other stuff… please tell me, because I think I'll get away from the depressing stuff for a little while and write a light-hearted, cliché comedy. Then I'll get back to work on this and City of Angels.

Part 1: Jinsei – Human Life

---

_Everyone says that things happen for a reason, and that reason backs up every action we do._

_If that were the case, why was he sitting here, listening to the plea of insanity? Surely the defendant did not actually think that would work. Even as a twelve year old, he knew that the jurors would most likely not either decide to send him to an asylum or completely disregard the murder conviction. If this man were truly insane and sent to an asylum, then he, the boy, would kill everyone in the world. They only brought it upon themselves. _

_His mother's words were still ringing into his ears. "Sweetheart, not one thing in the world happens without a reason. Even if you did not carry a murder through, does that mean that only the person who killed the victims was the only person responsible? No, my dear, it doesn't. Understand that all those who do not try to prevent the massacre will face punishment in hell along with the killer." Those had been his mother's words exactly ten minutes before the man came into the store, waving a gun over his head, screaming for them to drop to the floor and give him their money. _

_The day had started out normal enough; his mother had wanted to go to the store for some flour and eggs, since they were making cookies for a visiting friend. The day before, he'd had an accident – the flour ended up all over the kitchen floor, and the eggs went down the drain – so his mom had to run to the store to get the ingredients. Being that it had been his fault for the mess, he'd offered to go with his mother, if only to carry things._

_At the local store, where they knew the owner like family, his mother sent him scurrying to get the milk, remembering that his father had finished the last carton in the morning. While he was getting the milk, she would get the eggs – nothing heavy, because that was what her son was there for, to carry the heavy things. After gathering all the necessary ingredients, they'd walked to the check out counter when another customer came through the door, the normal jingle of bells signalling the arrival._

_This man was not interested in milk or cookie dough; he wanted cold hard cash. He wanted the money fast, so he threatened the customers with a .44-caliber shotgun, pointing it at the nearest person, the store clerk. Everyone began to hand the man their money, not wanting their good friend dead. Even as his own mother gave the man money, the young boy could see that there was something wrong. He would wish for years to come that he had been wrong._

_After the last person gave the criminal their money, he turned around and waltzed out of the store. Stopping at the doorway, he turned around and smiled an evil grin, one that would haunt the boy's dreams forever._

_He fired._

"_Guilty as charged of first degree murder. We have considered the claim of insanity." The juror announced, sitting down. Those few words brought a distraught boy back to reality. It was all he needed to hear, as he stood up when the judge turned to leave, the bailiff dragging the angry man to his sentence. Twenty-five years in prison, no parole, no visitors. The man would be completely alone, as the boy himself had been for several years._

_Alone… the word echoed in his mind. Alone…_

_After the incident at the store, he learned that by some freak coincidence, his dad had been hit by the escape vehicle of a gang of thugs fleeing their own crime scene. His father had died on impact, leaving the boy alone in the world. Since he was twelve, there had been nothing to do than ship him to an orphanage. The will of his parents – being that they were smart business people and caring parents had made the will the year before - left everything and anything they owned to him, but that wouldn't be claimed until he was eighteen. Until then, no one would even touch the property; police had been set up to patrol the area, considering the large value of the property the couple owned._

_He never knew what they had until he lost it all._

_So after being shipped off to the orphanage at age twelve, he did nothing but sulk. The boy didn't play with other children; he didn't speak to the counsellors. At age thirteen, they thought that they could put him on anti-depressant pills, and then maybe he'd talk. That hope was dashed as he neared his fourteenth birthday. By the time he was fifteen, the only words anyone ever heard from his mouth were, "Fuck off."_

_His vocabulary seemed limited to those two words, and even then it was rare to hear his voice, oddly not as scratchy from non-use as the orphanage owners had thought. The only times he would even open his mouth was if he decided that someone was trying to dig into his past a little too much. A few people in the orphanage got sent to the hospital when he caught them talking about his parents probably having secret liaisons and that everything was staged for them to escape._

_The boy would make them eat the dirt and their own words._

_But then again, no one from that day had lived a normal life; most everyone was trying their best to keep to themselves. Everyone from the "45__th__ Street Store Encounter" didn't want to acknowledge that anything happened, so they broke off contact with anyone else involved incident. Leaving the boy without a hand to hold in comfort; without someone who knew what happened and could deal with it._

_All the boy had wanted, during his years at the orphanage, was someone who would understand._

_But no one did, so he kept to himself, avoiding social contact when possible. His heart turned into a block of ice, staying alone in the place that everyone had dubbed '__**His**__ Area." After the age of sixteen, everyone had given up on him; it was impossible to fix the broken boy with a heart so cold it put Pluto to shame._

_Through all this, all he wanted was someone to understand. _

---

A young man of seventeen sat at the base of the largest tree he had seen. That wasn't saying much, being that he'd been at the same house for five years, and the life before that… he didn't really remember. The orphanage was his home now, so it didn't matter really, the life that he'd left after his guardians – who he didn't remember much about – passed on was all a sad past that he'd like to leave behind.

If only he could leave it all behind.

The day he saw his mother shot before his own eyes was etched into his brain, playing over and over again like a broken record. Nothing he tried would have gotten rid of the horrifying image, distorted and made worse by time. He simply accepted it a simple truth, simply part of his already horrible life. If the scene ever went away, it would be a miracle from all the gods in the world; like retribution for all that he had suffered.

He knew the truth; even in his life before, his only solace was with his parents.

As a younger boy, he'd been teased for keeping his hair long. When he tried to play with the other boys at school, they would take one look at him and laugh. The girls would run if he asked to play with them, afraid of getting the dreaded 'cooties'. The teachers would look at him disapprovingly if anything went wrong, almost always positive that he had some hand in it, even if he'd been sick and in the nurse's office when it happened. Those were the memories of his childhood that stayed with him through all the years.

They haunted his very soul.

Never knowing whether he was in a living nightmare, or a happy dream compared to reality, he spent most of his time near the trees, trying to avoid all people and children. If this was his dream, it was beautiful compared to his reality. He didn't want anyone messing it up by trying to talk to him. He didn't want to find a friend to only know that they were in his imagination.

He didn't want to love that which wasn't real.

Sighing, the young male stood, very strong for his age and the nothing he seemed to do everyday. The entire working force, mostly volunteers that were just past their teenage years, would try to talk him out of his mood. They'd compliment him on his physique. Some of the female volunteers would ask him how he managed to keep in shape so well. The men working there would beg him to take them on a training session.

No one knew that the nightmares toughened him; soul _and_ body.

Even if they tried to guess, it wasn't like he'd tell them they were right or wrong. He'd always keep to himself, no matter who tried to get him to open up. If he ever got adopted – highly unlikely, considering his age – he would probably tell his foster parents just to keep them off his back. But then the opportunity to ruin his dream would arise:

If they were too kind, he'd know that this was a dream. If they cared too little, this would become the nightmare. If they were neutral, he'd know this was reality. If he told them and they didn't hear him…

…He'd lose his hold on sanity.

---

"Are you sure that you want a young male that is almost eighteen?" The owner of the orphanage was sitting in his office, talking to a respectable woman while her seventeen-year-old daughter was peering about nervously. The lady nodded and the man furrowed his eyebrows in displeasure. "Ma'am, we only have one male that fits your description."

"Oh, good! Is he strong?" The woman clapped her hands together happily and her daughter nearly jumped out of her chair, startled by her mother's sudden antics. The girl looked at her mother with a weary glance as said woman smiled brightly. "Look dear! Now you won't have to worry about all those bullies at school with a strong older brother at your side!"

The girl slumped into her chair and mumbled, "Thanks mom." Slumping in her chair, the blue pleated skirt she wore crumpled up and her white blouse wrinkled. Why did her mom have to go off on a limb, decide that she needed a bodyguard, and then decide that while she was at it, they might as well try to give someone else a better life too? They were just a few people who made fun of her clothing and the way she walked. Nothing was really wrong at school – her mother was just blowing it all out of proportion.

"Come now, sit up Kagome. The orphanage head said that he'd be right back with your new older brother!" The woman squealed, the equivalent of the noise a teenager would make after their long-time crush just asked them out. The one dubbed Kagome blew out a sigh and said, "But mom, I don't really need you to do this. It's nothing; after a week or two, I'll be laughing these incidents off with the people involved. We're all just being teenagers right now."

Frowning disapprovingly, Kagome's mother looked at her, saying, "That's exactly what I'm afraid of. I'm scared that this 'fooling around' will get more serious and you will end up in the hospital." She smiled suddenly, her entire demeanour changing. "And just think of how the boy we're about to adopt must feel. He probably never thought that he would be adopted at his age, but now he'll have a future!"

As soon as her mother finished, Kagome turned to the door as it opened, revealing the head of the orphanage owner… and another figure.

---

Staring blankly at the clouds, the boy stood up, feeling that invisible force calling to him again. The last time he heeded the call, it nearly led him off the side of a cliff (perhaps it knew how much he was suffering), and the first time it had brought him to the orphanage kitchen where they kept the butcher knives. Now he wondered what way the force would show him that he could get rid of all his pain.

He looked up at the tree he had been sitting under for the better part of the last five years. He had the sudden urge to climb it; and so, without thinking, the young man began to climb as fluidly as if he did this everyday – and he did; almost everyday. He settled himself on a branch and looked out at the small neighbourhood that the orphanage was located near. So at this he continued to stare, almost missing the call of his name. The manager of the orphanage, Miroku Something-or-another was looking for him.

"Inuyasha! Where are you lad?!" But for what reason did the man have to call for him. Surely there wasn't any possibility that he thought something at the fault of Inuyasha, who was known to sit in his tree, sit by his tree, or stand near his tree for entire days without moving a muscle. There were those select few times when he would wander around the perimeter of the orphanage, but he didn't do much of anything else.

So what was the reason that his name was being called?

Looking to the man running towards him, slightly dishevelled with a proud smile upon his face, Inuyasha felt a pang of… something indescribable. There was always something missing within himself, he knew, but what it was he could not grasp. All he understood was that the feelings he held all day were supposedly few in the millions he could and should have. After feeling this way for as long as he remembered, how was he supposed to know?

How was he to know a person could feel more than pain or emptiness?

Jumping from the tree – a good twelve feet – he nearly buckled his knees at the impact, not realising how hard it would really be. Then again, he barely noticed anything that would bring him pain, as he was constantly in such a state. The man from the orphanage, whom he now remembered as Miroku Tanoshii, walked up to him, stopping about five feet away. That was the closest any adult had gotten to him the past week, after he sent one of the volunteers to the hospital for making an obscene comment about one of the younger girls at the orphanage. Then there was the very perverse comment involving the young girl.

So he did the natural thing and broke the man's arms before he could act upon these comments. No one had the right to say anything like that about any younger being when such a person was not present to defend him/herself. Rin wouldn't have defended herself anyway, the poor girl being mute and all. Apparently, only the younger children understood this. Or maybe it was the fact that they had never liked that man in the first place… But it didn't matter; well, right now it didn't matter.

What was Miroku saying?

---

"Inuyasha? Boy? Are you even listening to me?" Miroku sighed as the younger man looked at him blankly, not even acknowledging his presence. '_If he does get adopted by that family, I hope they have better luck than me…_' He solemnly thought, as recognition slowly filtered into Inuyasha's violet eyes. He was coming about, and finally realising that, yes, Miroku was speaking to him. "Come on, Inuyasha, I need you to come with me in order to meet your possible foster mother and sister."

Still, Inuyasha stared through him, sending chills up his spin. '_This kid would be good for a really creepy character in a movie…_' Miroku, instead of telling Inuyasha this, turned around and began to walk back to his office. He looked over his shoulder for a brief moment and was slightly surprised to see the boy right behind him. '_Yup, defiantly the ghost or something._'

Miroku thought back to the time Inuyasha had been brought to the family orphanage at the age of twelve. At first, the boy would break almost anything he could get his hands on, but that lasted only a week. By the end of that week, the orphanage had spent more money than they had in an entire month the year before. But after the boy had quieted from his rampage, he _really_ quieted. Nothing was heard from him an entire week. When anyone would even try to go near him, he'd snarl and glare at them. That was when he found his favourite tree.

Now everyone just stayed away from him, except the younger kids. Rin, a nine year old that had been in a car accident with her parents and ended up get stabbed through her vocal cords by shattered glass – hence her being mute – had taken a particular liking to the teen and would always sit next to him and smile. Miroku was almost positive that sometimes Inuyasha would return the simple gesture, because some days, Rin's smile would be a bit forced and others it would shine like a beacon of light.

Inuyasha had always been an interesting case; his parents had left a substantial amount of money, and an even more substantial amount of land to him, but he would be forced to stay at the orphanage, or a foster family, until he turned eighteen. After learning about his mood problems and his birthright, many of the possible foster parents had withdrawn their offers to house him and taken others instead. Now that Miroku was twenty – yes, he was only two and a half years older than the teen standing next to him – he was supposed to deal with the family business while his parents got to relax. As far as he knew, the two elder Tanoshii were having a vacation in Taiwan.

Striding down the hall, the two came up to the door fairly quickly. "Now, I want you to be very polite and…" '_Aug, I don't need to tell him, of all people, this. He does nothing but stare at a wall, the sky, or Rin when she tries to communicate, all day. There is no way that two simple people could get a rise out of him._' So Miroku shut himself up and put on a smile. Looking at Inuyasha, Miroku felt himself envy the younger man since he didn't seem at all nervous. Jitters were the only thing Miroku had going for him. Finally gathering his nerves, Miroku opened the door.

---

Kagome stared at the young man that followed Miroku into the room. His shiny, _knee length_, black hair was done in a nice high ponytail, giving him a girly appearance, but that was all that did so. Decked out in a black shirt, undoubtedly one of the headmaster's old ones, and faded blue jeans, he had some pretty good muscle, but it was the lean kind and not the obtrusive, obnoxious stuff. The thing that captivated her most were his eyes; glossy violet, but completely blank of anything. They stared at nothing, even if they looked straight at you.

His eyes were empty.

Snapping out of her trance, Kagome turned to her mother, who was staring at the boy also. There was a strange glint in Mrs. Higurashi's eyes; the kind only a mother would get after feeling like she found her long lost child. Looking back to the boy, who now had settled himself onto a couch in the corner, Kagome felt the simple desire to run her hands through his hair, make him feel something so that the emptiness would go away. Her mother's influence to make people happy was running strong through her blood.

"Mrs. Higurashi, I would like to present to you our only male occupant over the age of sixteen, Inuyasha Taishou, who is turning eighteen next September 29th. Now, I believe you would like a report on why he has never been adopted before, am I correct?" Miroku Tanoshii was quite the businessman when it came down to it, Kagome noticed. The man sat down in front of her and her mother, pulling out a large folder that read _"Taishou Case"_ on the front.

_**That**__**was**__**his**_, the boy who was currently sitting in his corner staring at the wall, folder and records? What had he done, and why was he not adopted yet, Kagome wondered. Sure, the long hair thing was a bit strange, but hair could be cut off, one, two! His eyes were a piercing violet and could captivate anyone, so why would anyone want to leave this empty boy without filling him with love? '_Oh gods, now I sound like my mother!_' Kagome thought fleetingly, before focusing upon the situation at hand.

"…Well, you see, he has quite the inheritance on him, the lad does. The Taishou family is now down to him, a single person, so all of their land, companies, which are still thriving underneath the temporary replacement, and wealth go to him in his name when he turns eighteen. This is the main reason that no one has been willing to take him in. They feel that if he doesn't get what he wants, the boy will be like some of the other rich people would have been put into an orphanage. As far as I know, the only sign of anger was the week he destroyed our china, and that was his first week here. I doubt he even remembers that. As far as what he really needs… well, if you have a large tree, open space, food, a bed, and perhaps a younger child around, he would be content. He doesn't do much of anything, really…" Miroku continued to talk to her mother as Kagome slowly got up and walked towards the boy.

She sat down next to him, but his eyes never went towards her once. Sighing, Kagome waved her hand in front of his face until he turning in her direction. "Hi." She said it quietly so that the other two adults in the room wouldn't here over all of the legal things they had to sort out. The boy's eyebrows furrowed a bit, before he nodded his head once. Blinking, Kagome waited for anything else; perhaps a 'Hi' back or something. "Aren't you going to say something?" She prompted. What she didn't expect was the boy to do exactly what he did.

"No." This was all she got, in a monotone response. Inuyasha turned his head back to the wall.

Kagome's eyes widened at the boy's rudeness. '_No wonder he never was adopted_', she thought, '_just looking at him can make you depressed enough for a lifetime._' The way he acted as though he had everything you could ever want made her feel a bit angry. Was he so high and mighty that he didn't need to talk to the poor little girl begging for her mother to stop blowing what happened at her school out of proportion?

"God, you're a rude one." Kagome muttered under her breath. When she got no response from the boy, for she was sure she said it loud enough for him to hear, Kagome turned and glared at him, not even bothering to make it look discreet. Suddenly, she was snapped out of her glare by her mother's bubbly voice. It appears that her mother was more of a teen that she was.

"Dear! Come, let's go and show your new brother his new home!" Sighing, Kagome resigned herself to an ill fate as she turned to look down at the boy, only to find him gone. Looking at her mother, she saw the black haired boy and the headmaster looking at her expectantly. Feeling a bit embarrassed, Kagome quickly walked towards them and followed her mother out the door.

---

The heat of the younger girl's eyes bore into his skull. Even with the mother sitting up next to him, the younger girl did not relent and continued to glare at the back of his head. What had he done wrong this time? Was she jealous of his hair? Many people were; in fact, just two mornings ago, a volunteer named Yura Azakeri had threatened to chop it off if he didn't tell her how it got so shiny and long. All he did was flip her off and climb back up his tree. That woman never dared ruin her clothes, so she naturally avoided climbing trees.

Inuyasha stared out of the Honda (at least, that was what he thought it was… there were so many bloody copied car designs these days, and this one _seemed_ like a Honda) and looked at all the trees that seemed to fly by. Thinking back, he remembered the time he was almost flying. Thus, he forgot all about the girl and her mother, his new family, the buildings sweeping past him…

_After staying in the orphanage for nearly three years, Inuyasha knew the place like the back of his own hand. Walking out of the doors, he felt this strange presence begin to pull him. What was this feeling, telling him to go this way and not that? Why was it telling him to go away?_

_Away… It seemed to like that word, the presence. The wind blew by softly, picking the boy's hair and making it fly. He'd always wanted to fly, but his mother had always told him that humans couldn't fly unless they were in a plane. Inuyasha hadn't been in a plane for a long time, and he wanted to fly away. Who said that humans couldn't fly, anyhow? Who'd ever even tried hard enough? Wasn't there some saying that you could achieve anything if you tried hard enough and worked towards your goal?_

_Slowly, following that strange presence, Inuyasha came up to a hill. It was quite a lovely hill, purple flowers speckled the ground, and there was a large tree sitting on the very peak. The evergreen wasn't as large as his favourite tree back towards the edge of the forest, but it was still rather large. Next to the tree there was also a flat-topped bolder, and then… nothing._

_Curious as to why there didn't seem to be anything past the bolder and tree, not to mention that the warm presence was nudging him in that direction, Inuyasha moved towards the evergreen. Steeping over the top of the bolder, Inuyasha was quite surprised to find his foot in thin air. He took his leg back, and peered over the edge, seeing a fifty-or-so foot drop. Furrowing his eyebrow, the fifteen-year-old Inuyasha got down on his stomach and hung his arms over the edge. For the time being, it seemed as though the presence was taking a break._

_His young (if only in age) mind wandered to other things, some of which no teenager should really have to worry about. His main concern was how to end his suffering. The orphanage master had removed all sharp objects, and anything valuable, after his week long tantrum the first time here. So, that meant no knifes from which to cut out his skin and watch his life's blood drip. That also meant no china to break and create his own knife._

_He figured that there was always rope, or even shoelaces that he could use to hang himself… but that wouldn't be any fun. He needed to see his blood leave his body in order to know that he was truly going to die. Death by suffocation was so messy, all things aside. He'd heard that the body goes haywire and the person's eyes pop out, they begin salivating, and several other oddly interesting things occur. Now, he figured that bleeding to death wouldn't be too much cleaner, but at least he wouldn't feel his own eyes pop out. The only things he'd feel would probably be relief and light-headedness…_

_Suddenly, the presence swept back, and the wind came with it. Inuyasha quickly got up and looked around. He finally figured out the perfect way to die without a knife, without a rope. Just jump off the cliff, fall to your death, watch blood, _your blood_, pool around your broken body, and die happy. That was all the presence whispered into his ear, before carefully nudging him towards the edge._

_Inuyasha had the oddest thought. Would he regret jumping off the cliff? He shook his head quickly and looked below to the ground. It was covered in rocks with very few shrubs hear and there, not at all like the lush green grass near his trees. The ground looked very unappealing, but, hey, suicides can't be choosers. Preparing to jump, knees bent as if he were diving into a pool, toes peeking over the rock, Inuyasha had another sudden thought. Who would take care of his tree?_

_Standing up straight, Inuyasha looked over the edge and felt the wind tug at his lengthening hair. He thought for a moment. No one even cared about the forest area near the orphanage; they'd probably cut the trees down and start constructing something. That couldn't be allowed to happen, even if he had to live through this torturous life. Turning his back to the sunset, Inuyasha walked away, shivering as the once warm presence berated him for thinking of a tree; two actually. In a few years, maybe when he was adopted, he could die peacefully, but for now, he had the largest trees in the world to care about. Something, at least, that needed him a little. The little sapling next to that huge tree needed his attention more._

'_I need to go water it, don't I…?' Inuyasha thought to himself, walking towards the large sakura tree, wind blowing and sun setting._

The girl, his new sister that is, was giving him the strangest looks. What was her problem, exactly? Since he told her that he wouldn't say anything more than 'no' to her, she'd been glaring and staring at him. Oh whatever, that wench could bother, stare, hit, sneer, anything she wanted at him, and he couldn't care less. Briefly, the fleeting thought that Rin would be very unhappy about this crossed his mind.

There was always learning to drive and visiting he decided.

Out of the blue, his foster mother glanced at him while the car was stopped at a red light and asked him, "So, Inuyasha, right? What do you want for dinner?"

Inuyasha tilted his head in her direction and seriously pondered the question. What did he want for dinner? How about… a butcher knife! But that wouldn't go over well with this woman, he decided, nor would Rin ever forgive him for doing something stupid. Plus there was that small tree that he was taking care of for Rin underneath his own larger one. He'd have to remember and go visit that soon.

"Momma, he isn't going to answer you." The girl in the back piped up, putting a hand on the driver's seat shoulder and pulling herself up, sticking her head between the seats. She turned to him and glared a bit before turning back to her mother. A sudden smile lit her face as she answered her mother's question instead. "Though I wouldn't mind having oden!"

The older woman, who had to drive while her teenage daughter's head was sticking from between the two seats, chuckled and said, "He's probably just thinking, right Inuyasha? Besides, it'll be his first time at our house, so we should have something that he would like to eat. Souta won't mind, and you shouldn't either, dear."

Souta? What the hell was a Souta? _Who_ the hell was Souta? Inuyasha decided not to ask. He'd find out soon enough, and besides that, he still didn't know what he wanted for dinner. He then remembered something that he'd thought he'd forgotten. One of his favourite foods in the world… Hoikoro. He had no idea what it was made of (which was pretty sad, since it was mostly vegetables…) but he knew that he loved the way his mom used to make it. Maybe he could finally have some, again.

"Hoikoro."

The mother and daughter pair stopped talking and the girl turned to him. "Whaddya say?" The girl questioned, searching his face, making Inuyasha feel quite uncomfortable. He turned away, towards the window, and answered again. "Hoikoro. I'd like to eat hoikoro today."

The silence was uncomfortable, and suddenly Inuyasha felt incredibly stupid for having said anything at all. But all of his weariness was swept away when he glanced at the older woman, who smiled and said while still driving, "That sounds like a fine idea. We haven't eaten that for so long, and Kagome, you father will so love to eat hoikoro again."

Kagome just stared at her mom with a dulled look, raised eyebrow and all. She turned to Inuyasha and had a look on her face that clearly said '…and did you **plan** to screw my life over completely?' To her look, Inuyasha shrugged, feeling the odd sensation of amusement as her eyebrow shot up to her hairline. "You jerk! You did that on purpose!" She shouted.

"Kagome, dear, what are you yelling in my ear for?" Her mother gave the distraught girl a disapproving glance, quickly turning back to the road. Gaping like a fish Kagome sank back to her seat, crossed her arms, and mumbled something. Her mother must've heard her, since the woman asked no more questions. Inuyasha turned his head back to the window and knew that his life would change.

If all his pain didn't go away, he figured that because of the idiot wench in the back, it would be somewhat lifted. She was just too amusing compared to everyone at the orphanage. Inuyasha also figured that as soon as he inherited all of that land from his parents, he would move into that huge house and adopt all of the younger kids from that orphanage. Rin had always smiled at him, and even if he did nothing kind in return, she stuck beside him. That was how a kid should act – like nothing was wrong in life and everyday was sunny. With all of that money he'd get from his dead parents, he could probably even afford surgery for Rin.

These thoughts struck him as odd, but he'd been feeling slightly better ever since Rin had come to the orphanage. Of course, that wasn't a good thing for Rin, since that meant she was an orphan… but hey, take life as it came and all that crap.

Not even once since Rin had come to the orphanage had Inuyasha thought that he should kill himself. Well, not for long, anyway. After having those kinds of melancholy thoughts from age twelve, it tends to be difficult to rid yourself of them. All Inuyasha knew was that in the year that he'd known and ever so slightly cared for Rin, he hadn't thought of jumping of a cliff or stabbing himself through in all seriousness.

---

Before he knew it, Inuyasha was staring at the front of his new house.

"Come on dear, you must meet my husband and my younger son, Souta. You adore little kids, right Inuyasha?" His new guardian's words fell on deaf ears as Inuyasha slowly got out of the car and walked a few steps before turning to look at the two females that this was their house. The younger girl, Kagome, rolled her eyes at him and then ran up the steps. Her mother followed and motioned for him to come. Twisting around, Inuyasha almost yelled in frustration, something that he hadn't done for a while.

Did they _have _to live in this fucking house?!

It was a two-story house, quite beautifully and tastefully painted a clean white. There were only a few steps up to the house, and the porch was neat, swept, and had several different plants, like petunias and hollyhocks growing from the ground around the wooden porch, or in pots. Plants surrounded the house, flowers or all sizes, and of course trees. There was a particularly beautiful sakura tree in the side yard, though it had nothing on the one at the orphanage. The house was perfect. Too perfect.

This house, the Higurashi residence, where he was expected to live for a year-ish (until he turned eighteen in September) was only a block away from where his mom had been murdered. The only problem: Neither his guardian, nor his 'sister' noticed his distress. How did he know this? For Inuyasha it was simple; all he had to do was wait for it… wait for it…

"Get up here you dumb jerk!" Kagome screamed from the porch, only to be berated by her mother, father, and sadly enough, her younger brother. There it was, the obvious obliviousness to his pain. Rin would've noticed his distress immediately. Heck, even Miroku could probably tell if he was uncomfortable. But these new people who had just decided that they would adopt him? No, not a snowball's chance in hell. Actually, if he remembered correctly, one of those secretive times that Rin had written down something in her immeasurably good handwriting (for a nine year old) was about how a snowball could have a chance in hell… He'd have to find that paper in that duffle bag of his.

Which reminded him that he should probably get that out of the trunk now… "Oh, don't worry about your stuff. I'll bring it up later." An older voce sounded behind him. Turning around again, Inuyasha was met with Kagome's father and younger brother. The older man smiled and held out his hand to shake, while trying to keep his son from jumping Inuyasha.

"I'm Kajiya Higurashi, and this kid here is Souta. Welcome to the family." Shaking the older man's hand Inuyasha looked down at the younger boy of eleven or twelve. He looked a bit like Rin, Inuyasha decided, and that probably meant that he'd act sort of the same way, expect more annoying since he could talk. The kid he could handle.

As the older man followed Inuyasha up the stairs, and Souta kept on smiling up at him, Inuyasha decided six things. First, the kid he could handle. Second, Mr. Higurashi he could handle. Third, Mrs. Higurashi he could handle. Fourth, he was going to visit Rin and the tree at the orphanage as much as possible. Fifth, his life would start looking up real soon, about the time he got to move out. The last thing he decided was quite a bit longer than the others…

Sixth, he could not handle that stupid girl. He was the snowball, she was hell, and the only way he'd have a chance in hell was if he avoided it at all costs. He still couldn't comprehend why that girl had been glaring at him and given his disgusted looks all the time she'd known him. He knew something was seriously off in her head. But that was it. For now, the best thing he could do was avoid confrontation. He'd have to dig up his old manners if he was to survive this place, too.

That was when he realized that this change already forced him part way out of his shell of pain.

Trudging up the steps and onto the porch, his new family behind him some ways, Inuyasha muttered, "Well, as they say: From the mouth of the fire breathing dragon to the pits of hell with the fire breathing dragon included, no charge."


End file.
